Today, a meeting dedicated to the joint concert of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and the Armenian State Chamber Orchestra in the Dresden Frauenkirche on September 29 took place in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The concert took place in the framework of composition festival, which is organized by the Armenian State Youth Orchestra and the Union of Composers and Musicologists of Armenia under the sponsorship of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and assisted by the Armenian Ministry of Culture.
Armine Ghazaryan, the chief expert of the contemporary art department, Ministry of Culture, informed that the concert was held in the framework of events dedicated to the 500th anniversary of Armenian Printing, “The program included pieces of Armenian and international classics like Komitas, Tigran Mansuryan, Eduard Hayrapetyan, Barber and Schnittke. It was particularly important that the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra played – it proved that our concern organizers are competitive internationally.”
In Ms. Ghazaryan’s words, Armenia used to offer its musical art to the world, now it receives invitations, “There is a high demand for Armenian maestros and representatives of the younger generation abroad, since we have worthy groups of performers and composers.”
Robert Mlkeyan, the creative director and chief conductor of the Armenian State Chamber Orchestra, asserted that the orchestra had received serious invitations in recent years and the CD produced by the orchestra in 2006 had been ranked among the best by Gramophone, a reputed magazine, “We were supposed to play on the final night of the concert, during which we played Komitas’s spiritual, ritual and work songs, as well as choral songs from Mansurian’s Isahakyan series. The foreign audience started to cry after hearing Komitas’s music.”
Sergey Smbatyan, the creative director and chief conductor of the Armenian State Youth Orchestra, said that the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra was one of the oldest in the world and was considered as one of the best, “Our participation was particularly important, because Europe saw the Armenian culture. There is an impression that political issues in Armenia attract more attention, but Europe became convinced that we had music worth high appreciation.”
Louise SUKIASYAN
